Castle - A new encounter

Mechtelen walked slowly towards the castle. She didn't want to go witness the scene where Cereandren and the new woman, Sara, would discuss about working opportunities. Cereandren had looked annoyed enough when she had gone suggest him to go see the woman. Mechtelen was not sure if he would let her to work here. She frowned a bit. Although Sara had tried to convince her of her behaviour, she had a little strange feeling. With those thoughts she kept walking towards the room where she had left Sara.

After a moment she heard Cereandren to yell at Marian but the voice seemed to come from different side of the castle where she was at the moment. The less she wanted to go see and prolonged her way to the room.

Done with her victory dance, Sara approached the sole chair in the far side of the room. She strode in front of a tall mirror and balked when she saw her own reflection.

She rubbed her face, trying to get rid of the blush. “Come on Sara…” she groaned, “we are in deep enough trouble without you having a stupid crush to that head guard.”

It was hard for her to admit, but head guard Cereandren was one of the most attractive males she’d ever met. She used to think that male elves are a feminine bunch, sometimes even more feminine than female humans, a real male is supposed to be bulky, overly muscular, covered in body hair and scars.

“Don’t think about it…don’t think about it…” She closed her eyes, muttering the mantra though deep inside her heart, she was aware of its futility. She clenched her belly, trying to calm the fluttering butterflies inside.

Met walked up the ramp and stopped to the doorway raising her brow. "Are you ill? Or he didn't accept you?", she asked when saw Sara clenching her stomach. She thought it was miracle in itself Sara was alive after that cut in her back let alone after her... professional stitching. Would be also some kind of miracle that the grumpy elf would accept her. He never agreed to no one.

She stepped carefully to the room and stayed to stand near the ramp going out, looking at Sara.

Met wasn't sure was the woman trying to hide something or was she just surprised or both. She frowned when heard Sara's answer and crossed her arms.

"He really did?" She was not sure if she was happy of the news. Basically and personally she couldn't care less who were working in the castle but in this case when probably she would be responsible of the woman... of whom she did know nothing... she almost felt her head slipping from the shoulders already. The second reason for her to frown was that she didn't believe Cereandren would have agreed to take her here.

"Maybe you should come with me, then... maid.", she grinned a bit. In a odd way she liked the woman. And based on what she had told Met earlier, she might like her more. "If you are hungry, that is. I could also show you around if you feel like walking already?"

“Yes…yes he did say I can work here. I think he said I should ask the castle keeper for the details.”

She felt a little guilty of lying to Met, she had helped her when she needed help and even now she has a place to stay, it was all directly or indirectly thanks to Met.

She sighed, “I do feel a little hungry, but that was not why I clenched my belly.”

“Pasper…I am pitiful.” She groaned and shook her head. She looked at Met, expecting her to laugh, “I think I do have a bit of crush to that head guard of yours.”

“Just a little, maybe will be gone soon.” She quickly added. “It’s just…I have never seen such exquisite creature. Lean and powerful, strong but not a brute.”

She scratched her head awkwardly, “well…if anything just think of it as an incentive for me to pour my heart and soul into this castle cleaning duty.”

“I would gladly walk around this castle with you, but please mind my wounds and do not walk too fast…” Kneeling beside a cabinet, she tilted her head to the side, eyebrows raised “is there any robe I can wear?“

Met was listening quietly when she started to speak. When she told it was not a hunger what made her clench her belly she rose her brows a bit. "Oh?" She was looking at her a bit wondering as Sara seemed to have something to reveal.

Although she wasn't quite expecting the reveal make her to choke to her own spit but she started to cough violently as Sara had gone to the point where she told she had a crush for the grumpy elf. That wasn't funny at all and in a way it was rather hilarious. But Met wasn't laughing. She was busy coughing almost the whole time Sara was speaking.

The look she gave Sara though indicated that Met was more upset than amused. "You can't be serious, he i--". Her sentence got interrupted when she saw a shadow on the doorway and turned to look, starting to cough again. Damn. The devil himself.

Cereandren looked down the room, glancing the women by turns. "I was expecting you to be here, Mechtelen, but not thought you were dying. You should be alive now, since I got something you need to do." He turned to look at Sara who was in front of the cabinet. "And don't you have anything to wear? Mechtelen, give to our maid at least something decent." His voice had the usual slightly annoyed tone.

Met was still coughing a bit and looked at Cereandren a bit warily. Nothing, almost ever, meant good if Cereandren suggested it. Last time she had to do something, she ended polishing old weapons for the whole three days and only because she had talked to him back a little. She heard Sara well but kept looking at Cereandren.

Cereandren frowned and looked at them. "You two look like children caught stealing candies." They both were indeed acting weird and now he almost regretted his decision but that couldn't be helped anymore. He continued straight after his previous sentence. "Marian is going to military training camp and I have to accompany him there. Which means...". He gave a glare to Mechtelen. This was now the only solution. "...you are going to see everything goes smoothly here while I am away for that little while. Syadai is coming with us. We shouldn't be long, so don't mess this up, Mechtelen." He sounded clearly displeased.

Mechtelen nodded. "..sure... I'll do my best.", she spoke with hoarse voice and coughed again a bit and gave a glance to Sara.

Cere frowned again. "It will be me to whom you report. But I know you knew that already".Mechtelen looked like she could have attacked the elf in a any minute.

Cere turned to look at Sara and frowned more and took a step forward to her. "Your job is in the castle. Mechtelen is making sure that thieves and Zurhidons stay away from here. You two don't interfere with each other, am I clear?" His tone was serious and a bit demanding. This was exactly the reason why he disliked humans. They were so unreliable. Most of them. If he had had a choice, he wouldn't let Mechtelen such a great responsibility. He trusted her almost as little as the new woman maid.

Met stayed quiet. She had to or she would say something way too bad. She glanced Sara though, thinking if she was serious or not.

Surprised to hear that Zurhidons will try to sneak into the castle, she forgot to whom she was currently talking to. “The Zurhidons? We used to do many businesses with them, cruel bunch but they paid well…ehh…”

She clasped a hand over her mouth. “Y…yes Sire! I will do my job and not interfere with her…job”

Cereandren froze and he tried to push Sara against the wall. "...what? You have done business with Zurhidons?" He was growing angry since apparently he hadn't investigated her story enough. "Are you still working with them? Did they send you here? And who are these 'we'?" So many questions but he needed to find this out before he left.

First rule Sara learned in the prison was to never back down, if someone cornered you, push back.

Sara had lived with that rule for 13 years, many awful things happened in that forsaken place when she could not stand her ground. It was many years ago, but the last time a huge man tried to corner her into a wall…well…that did not end well…for her.

Adrenalin rushed through her body, fists clenched ready to strike, her eyes stared at Cereandren with fear and panic. At the last second though, she managed to control herself, remembering that she will put Met in a very bad position should she misbehave.

She closed her eyes tightly and fell into a crouch, arms covering her head and tried to act.

“Please! Please don’t strike me, master!”

He body shook like a leaf, from the way she protected herself, people will think that it was out of fear, but it was more out of fight or flee condition. Her back taut, the stitches would have come off if they were not bound tightly by linens.

(( Even the browser game crashed? Nice to know something will never change hehe ))

Cereandren had to raise his voice since he wasn't getting any satisfying answer from Sara. "Are you?! Speak to me, human!" And here he was thinking leaving Syadai in the castle. He turned to look at Met, speaking clearly angry. "And you. Are you trying to pull some strings with Armistan behind my back?"

Met glared at Cereandren. She knew he would think it was her fault. Was not first time and she doubted would be last. "No. I have not seen Armistan for a while, you should know that...", she tried to say calmly.

Cereandren turned to look at Sara again, who was covering herself and looked down at her angrily. "Answer to me.", he demanded.

She gritted her teeth still cowering, though her mind is much clearer. „My former master did some dealings with the Zurhidon.” She tried to clear her throat, “I helped him…I had to…I was his slave, what kind of other choice do I have? Even when I follow his whims he still hacked my fingers. I won’t be here now if I refused to help him dealing with them.”

She wrapped her arms around her shoulder, still refusing to look at him although her voice is getting steadier, she needed to be convincing. “I do not work with them anymore since I run away, no body sent me here, I was just looking for a help.”

She lifted up her chin and stared at him, her eyes were red but very calm. “Throw me out of this castle if you want, and let my master or the Zurhidon working with him find me and slaughter me or give me a chance to work here” She hissed “alternatively, if you feel charitable, you can just use that sword to end my life. A mercy killing, since my master won’t let me die easily.”

Cereandren looked at the woman still frowning, thinking her words. He was a bit amazed about how she spoke to him. If she had been a man, he might as well grant the wish of quick death. He turned suddenly and walked a bit away. "I really should use the sword on you... both." His voice was angry still and he was rather annoyed about the turn of events. He hadn't time for this.

Met was impressed, too. She listened her story but stayed silent. She could defend herself if Cereandren went into rampage but she doubted Sara could do so well, though she might have surprising cards in her sleeve.

After rather long time of silence he turned and seemed still displeased. "I don't have time for this." He really had become soft and was thinking whose fault it was. He turned to look at Mechtelen. "If something happens while we are away... I am treating you as anyone who betrays us." He turned to look at Sara. "Thus... you have your chance, human. Act like humans do and I might forget to whom you worked for."

She nodded, her face grim though she could not quite believe her luck. She will need to hit something later, maybe releasing her fury at the training dummy in the yard, maybe hitting the wall behind her and offered to repair the damage later. Anything to get rid of the swarming visions behind her eyelids. Stupid, useless memories.

“I…I will do my best Sir, thank you…for…sparing my life”

Pushing herself up to stand, she run her fingers through her short hair trying to hide her agitation.

Cereandren turned and left the room striding, mumbling some curses in elven. He wondered if the castle was even up when he returned...

Mechtelen followed Cereandren with her gaze when he left and looked at Sara then. "Are you mad?! NEVER say you have done business with Zurhidons if your life is dear to you! He goes mad every time Zurhidons are mentioned. Damn luck you had." It was indeed Sara's and hers luck that Cereandren was in a hurry. Though Met felt her luck was long time faded since she wondered if she could keep her head after Cereandren's return. She would need to keep an eye of Sara.

"Sorry…sorry…“ She mumbled distractedly at first, looking down at both of her hands, she clenched them so hard she could see moon shaped little wounds where her nails digging into her flesh.

“Met…you can beat me up later, maybe in a few days after my back got a little better, I will even ask you to.” She rubbed the linen, “I am getting weak, I felt too comfortable and let myself walked into an ambush. If my offensive skill is so bad, at least I should train my defensive skill, training my endurance…”

She blabbed, trying to get her own emotion under control.

She glanced at Met, seeing how tense she was and when she spoke again, her tone had gone softer. “I am sorry, I really am. I can promise you here and now, as long as I am in this castle and under your responsibility, I will inform you of every plan I have in mind, every single thing I want to do.” Her thumb pointed at the general direction of the castle’s entrance. “Outside there though, it is different. I can not run from my past," she shook her head. "I do not want to either".

“I tend to overdo things and I have made many stupid choices, now I need someone to help me keep in check.” She offered her hand to Met, “what say you?”

Met looked at her seriously, answering to her first blabbering wave but fell silent when Sara's voice had calmed a bit and she started to speak again. She listened quietly the recovering woman. Her promise for her not to do anything so that Met wouldn't know.

When Sara offered her hand, she did not first take it. "You make it sound like I was your guardian." But she took hold her hand eventually. "But sure. And I will keep an eye of you. Not the sake of you but for myself...", she let the sentence a bit hanging as if she hadn't said everything.

"The outskirts and town life is your life. I told you already, I got no interest of what you do as long it won't harm the guild." She wasn't sure how serious she herself was about this anymore.

"You are out of your mind, woman.", Met said when she had left her hand. "All majestic I can think of him is that he thinks he is some sort of leader although he is merely an idiot. I don't get what you and Syadai see in him."

Met shook her head in a disbelief. She had never thought Cereandren looked majestic or appealing. He was just an elf with too big ego. She appreciated different things in men... Met fell a bit in thoughts and stared blankly ahead for a moment. How long she would need to be in the castle still?

She crossed her arms and mumbled “a being as beautiful as him is supposed to have a horde of admirers anyway, that is only normal. Call me crazy…again…, but the baddie vibe he gave off is actually part of the attraction.”

She looked at Met, noticing her blank stare.

“So…what about those food? And…well...something decent to wear.” She snapped her fingers several times in front of Met in order to get her attention.

Met had not heard much but when Sara snapped her fingers in front of her, the reality came back."What?" She looked at Sara quietly not really thinking about food or clothes. They had something similar and yet... it was partly true that Met didn't care about Sara's doings outside of the castle but on the other hand... she didn't seem weak at all and yet she seemed have the same problem as herself.